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Participants in next month’s extraordinary Synod of Bishops at the Vatican will have their work cut out for them as they consider a response to the “cultural, social and spiritual crisis” of the family—seen by the Church as the “vital nucleus” of society and the Church community.
Though fully aware that family life “is not ultimately defined by difficulties,” the challenges to family life today were spelled out in a 75-page working document released in June and meant to provide a reference point for the bishops from around the world, including Cardinal Dolan, who will gather Oct. 5-19 for the synod.
The synod’s theme is: “The pastoral challenges of the family in the context of evangelization.” The charge to the more than 250 participants, including 14 married couples from across the globe, will be coming up with ways to improve the pastoral applications of Church teachings, specifically so Catholics families can understanding those teachings and better integrate them into their lives.
If they follow the document’s guidelines, the bishops will discuss some of the most contested and controversial areas of Catholic moral teaching on the family, including contraception, divorce and remarriage, same-sex marriage, premarital sex and in vitro fertilization.
The path for the synod participants—who include more than 50 observers and experts appointed by Pope Francis, the majority being lay persons—will not be an easy one. But it’s a critically important mission, because these are issues that are critically important to Catholic families everywhere.
Making it even tougher, we think, is that the warp-speed pace of social and cultural change just in recent years means that topics that would have been marginal, if not unthinkable, during the 1980 synod on families are now commonplace.
The broader society’s acceptance of same-sex relationships, extending even to marriage and parenthood, is an obvious example, and one that surely will be addressed with respect to a pastoral response from the Church. In vitro fertilization and other “assisted reproduction” techniques, once unusual but now common, is another such issue.
We know, too, that marriage rates for adults aged 18-49 are declining worldwide, while cohabitation rates are growing, with the number topping 30 percent of couples in parts of Central and South America and more than 20 percent in parts of Europe. In the United States, 23 percent of children live with single mothers.
Pope Francis has acknowledged this upheaval, and has said the Church’s pastoral approach to helping couples must be “intelligent, courageous and full of love” because the family today is “looked down upon and mistreated.” Practicing what he preaches, he united in marriage 20 couples from the Diocese of Rome last Sunday, some of whom were already cohabitating and some already had children.
Another major topic likely to come up for discussion is the issue of divorce and civil remarriage. Some bishops would embrace the opportunity to welcome such couples to full Eucharistic participation in the Church, and some have suggested simplifying the annulment process as a means to do so. Pope Francis has hinted that changes in the divorce-remarriage situation might be needed.
It’s no secret that most married Catholic couples do not follow the Church teaching against artificial contraception, with the synod’s working document stating that “for many Catholics the concept of ‘responsible parenthood’ encompasses the shared responsibility in conscience to choose the most appropriate method of birth control.”
The document says the use of natural family planning, supported by the Church, encourages responsible decisions about family size while respecting human fertility and “the dignity of the sexual relationship between husband and wife.”
The document also points to economic factors behind Catholics’ disregard of that teaching: “Cohabitation without marriage can be driven by financial need; youth unemployment; and a lack of housing.” A widespread “contraceptive mentality” reflects, in part, a shortage of “child care, flexible working hours (and) parental leave.” Long working hours and commuting times “take a toll on family relationships.”
“The Church is called to offer real support for decent jobs, just wages and a fiscal policy favoring the family as well as programs of assistance to families and children,” the document states.
All of which adds up to a heavy workload for the bishops of the synod, and we wish them well as they take up this monumental task. Catholics around the world need to hear how they come together to address the family and the issues surrounding it in the light of their pastoral experience and with the wisdom of Church teaching.
